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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bore · present · cold · wake · rash · field · patient · fan

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. field — for sport
  5. present — a gift
  6. field — a subject
  7. rash — hasty
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. cold — not warm
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bore — to tire
  14. bore — to drill
  15. field — farmland
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. wake — a trail
  18. present — the time now
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. present — there
  22. cold — an illness
  23. rash — a series
  24. patient — a sick person

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com